ONE SMALL STEP. . .

Epiphanies are somewhat rare events and generally follow a process of significant reflection about a problem. Basic education Minister Angie Motshekga recently had an epiphany when she announced that preparing for matric starts in primary school. She has finally understood that matric starts in Grade 1, and the primary school experience is the crucible for academic achievement in later years. At last one small, but significant step appears underway to improve the quality of basic education. However, the sad reality remains that young people now, and for the foreseeable future are stuck in public schools where they learn basically nothing. Consider the likely outcome of the class of 2015 who barely earned a 30% pass mark. What opportunities, if any, await them in the workplace? Also, consider those young people who, because of deplorable standards, are academically unprepared, but nevertheless qualify for tertiary education. The phenomenon of academically unprepared students for tertiary study is not limited to South Africa. For example, the US educational system has a four year undergraduate and a two year associate degree program. Those who do not academically qualify for the four year degree program opt for the two year program. The latter affords a student with the opportunity to complete core subjects, followed by a transfer to a undergraduate degree program for the remaining two years. The associate degree program allows a student to mature academically, and in doing so, dramatically reduce the drop-out rate, and open more spots in undergraduate degree programs. Perhaps a solution for the education/university establishment in South Africa to consider? The deplorable standards for university entrance has created too many students for limited spots. Western Cape universities alone received 100,000 applications for 25,000 openings. The lowering of standards for the matric examination has triggered the law of unintended consequences, but for those students with multiple distinctions, it was not a real test of their abilities, but rather a walk in the park.